And word came that Mohammed was coming,—­coming, not in war, but in peace, on his first pilgrimage to the Caaba.  Mecca was instantly thrown into the wildest confusion.  Some deemed the prophet’s message honorable, but the majority were dubious, and thought that if Mohammed once gained an entrance, notwithstanding the fact that it was the sacred month Doul Kaada, his coming would be but to deluge the streets with blood.

A hasty consultation was held, and a troop of horse under one Khaled Ibn Waled, was sent out to check the prophet’s advance.  Mohammed, however, by means of his spies, early got word of this sally, and, turning aside from the way, he proceeded by ravines and by-paths through the mountains; and, ere the Meccans were aware of his proximity, his whole force was encamped near the city.

A deputation came from his army to the dignitaries of Mecca bearing messages of peace; but their reception was haughty.

“Go to him who sent you,” was the reply to their overtures, “and say that Meccan doors are shut to one against whom every family in Mecca owes the revenge of blood.”

For days the deputation was sent, with the same result, until at last ambassadors of the prophet entered with the offer of a truce for ten years.

The promise of a long respite from blood, and the hope of securing time to recuperate their forces, caught the ear of the Meccans.  A deputation was appointed to treat with the prophet, and Amzi, though a Christian, by reason of his wisdom and learning was chosen as one of the representatives.

Yusuf accompanied him to an eminence above the defile in which the Moslem tents were pitched.  A strange sight it was.  Far as eye could reach, tents, white and black, dotted the narrow valley; horses were picketed, and camels browsed; and in the foreground one thousand four hundred men were grouped, waiting to hear the issue of the conference,—­one thousand four hundred men, bare-footed, and with shaven heads, and each wearing the white skirt and white scarf over the shoulder, assumed by pilgrims.  Strangely different were they from the ordinary troops of the prophet, strangely unrecognizable in their garb of humility and peace; yet a second glance revealed the fact that each carried a sheathed sword.

Yusuf remained above, but Amzi descended with the embassy sent with the message that the treaty, if suitable, would be at once ratified.  Mohammed, who, in place of his green garb, now with obsequious humility wore the pilgrims’ costume, expressed his pleasure at the amicable attitude of the Meccans.  He was seated upon a white camel named El Kaswa in honor of the faithful beast which had borne him in the earlier vicissitudes of his fortunes.  Beside him, at a table placed on the sand, sat his vizier and son-in-law, Ali, to whom was given the task of writing the treaty as dictated by Mohammed.

“Begin, O Ali,” said the prophet, “’In the name of the most merciful God’—­”